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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bygone Era Revistited, March 20, 2000
By A Customer
This is not a "social history" of mid-20th century nudist magazines, but is instead a sampler: the book contains reprints of actual articles that appeared in the various magazines of this type. Strange as it may seem to anyone under 40, there was a time when photos of full frontal nudity were equated with the vilest pornography. For the first 15 years or so of its existence (until about 1970), neither Playboy magazine nor any of its imitators printed photos containing visible pubic hair. Though never attaining the social acceptability of National Geographic (or even coming close), the nudist magazines of this era filled much the same niche: providing male readers with photos of nude females in a non-sexual, non-pornographic context, that, for the most part, successfully thwarted the efforts of vice squads and the plethora of self-appointed censors.Generally, these magazines accurately portrayed nudist life. Again, the under-40 crowd may not be aware that traditional nudist/naturist establishments were NOT similar to the clothing-optional resorts which abound now, which in many cases are little more than "swingers' clubs." Rather, they were (and are) self-styled health resorts where overt sexuality was forbidden. On the other hand, the magazines understandably were designed more to promote the lifestyle then to portray it accurately. "Exhibit A" in support of my statement has to be the preponderance of females in the photos. Those who have engaged in any sort of "clothing optional" activity are aware that males constitute about 55-60% of the participants (while in the Bible Belt and other less-enlightened areas, the disparity is even higher). Yet, the overwhelming number of photos in these magazines are of women, typically under 40. There are of course photos of nude men, though typically depicted with women---often the men being in the background. But, understandable, since the target audience was heterosexual men. But, every era has its witches to hunt---and to burn---and our "enlightened" era is no different. Let the buyer beware: this book contains photos of nude children. The same under-40 crowd should know that in years past, it was not considered shocking for pre-pubescent children (especially boys) to be nude in a family context, in full view of adults and older siblings. Pictures taken with the family Brownie camera of the kids skinny-dipping could be taken to the local drugstore for developing with little fear even of a negative comment. Nowadays, dad would be arrested as a pedophile! Obviously, the photos of nude teens and pre-teens were published at the time to further illustrate the "family" aspect of nudism. Pedophilia was the furthest from the publishers' minds. But, times change. It was the changing times that caused their demise. With the advent of commercially-available pornographic magazines and movies in the 1970s, there was no longer a market for these magazines. Too bad.
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